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There is something about a warm bowl of chicken soup on a cold winter Sunday evening that makes you feel like everything is going to be okay. If you are feeling a bit under the weather, or just fancy an easy and tasty soup, then this recipe is for you.

It’s amazing how food can comfort you in many ways, and that comfort food does not always have to be unhealthy lardy dishes. Comfort food can also strike fond memories of your childhood, when your Mum would make you some soup if you are not feeling 100%. That first mouthful warms your insides and suddenly your spirits are lifted slightly, and that bond between mother and child is intensified just that little bit more. Thanks Mum.

So if you feel like making some soup for the soul, or you want to make someone feel a bit better, why not give this a try.

I am not ashamed to say that I took a massive shortcut in this recipe and used a rotisserie roast chicken bought from the supermarket. I love the taste of a rotisserie chicken compared to a home roasted chicken, but of course you can use either.

Ingredients:

1 carrot

1/2 onion

2 garlic cloves

1 chilli

A pinch of ground cumin

Sweetcorn (as much as you like)

1 rotisserie chicken (or any cooked chicken)

1 tbsp cornflour

500ml chicken stock

Dice the carrot and onion and finely slice the garlic and chilli. In a pot, add a little olive oil and place the vegetables in. Sauté gently until softened.

From your roasted chicken, remove the skin and shred some meat from the leg, thigh and wing (this meat is more tender and will not dry out.) Add the chicken to the pan.

Season the ingredients in the pan with sea salt, cracked black pepper and a pinch of cumin.

Add the chicken stock. In a water glass, mix the cornflour with a splash of cold water and then add to the soup to thicken it.

Simmer for a few minutes. Serve with crusty bread.

Tip: I used a chicken stock melt with boiling water as my stock, these can be found in all supermarkets. If not, a stock cube or fresh chicken stock will work too.

I have to say that I like my soup with a little bit of a kick! I believe spice diminishes any nasty germs but maybe that is a myth. If you don’t want the soup to be spicy, leave out the black pepper, chilli and cumin. But I have to say that these are the best ingredients so please don’t blame me if it is bland or boring! :p

Yes that’s right…Peri Peri Chicken Wings! We all know and love the famous flavours of peri peri chicken from Nando’s but have you ever tried to make it at home? It’s delicious and cheaper!

Now if the weather was a little bit nicer, I would highly recommend cooking the chicken on the barbecue. But its a bit early for barbecue season so you can still make this in the comfort of your own kitchen. All you need is a grill pan and an oven! I blasted the wings on a very hot grill pan first to get that charred effect that gives great flavour and then whack them in the oven to cook through. Here’s how I made the marinade:

Blend together:

1 chopped onion

4 garlic gloves

2 whole chillies (or more/less depending how hot you like them)

2 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp oregano

Juice of 1 lemon

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt and pepper

1 tsp oil

1 handful chopped parsley

Now you can adjust this recipe to suit your taste buds and experiment! Leave the skin on the wings and marinate for a few hours or overnight. Then when you are ready to cook, blast them on the grill pan either side and then cook them through in the oven. Serve with wedges and salad and enjoy!

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve looked at my boring sandwich or same old salad for lunch and thought, surely I can eat something else? Especially in the winter, I long for something warm that won’t make me feel sleepy all afternoon.

So today I decided to make leek and potato soup, and it was very satisfying. I didn’t add any cream (even though I really wanted to!) because as a weekday lunch I didn’t want it to be full of calories . All I did was fry a medium sized chopped onion, two garlic cloves, 2 sliced leeks and one small sliced potato in some olive oil. I let them sweat down a little bit and then added some chicken stock. I boiled it until the potato was cooked through and then added a splash of semi-skimmed milk, seasoned with salt and pepper and blitz until smooth. I also added some fresh parsley to give the soup a bit of a lift.

I think soup is a great idea for lunch, you can make a batch on the weekend and then freeze into individual portions for the week and off you go. I’m not a fan of those packet soups because who knows what is in them and they taste a bit watery to me. I like to know that I am getting some real veg in me. And there are so many different combinations you could try, such as sweet potato and carrot soup or tomato and red pepper soup. What flavours do you like?

With all this hype about how butter is now good for us, I couldn’t not cook butter chicken and share it with all you lovely people. Now I don’t know if butter is good for us, bad for us, or simply tormenting us but what I do know is that it’s delicious and seems to make everything taste better. But yes, everything in moderation I can hear you say.

I basically followed this recipe but used Pataks Kashmiri spice paste rather than a powder. You can get this in most of the supermarkets and it gives the curry a great flavour.

I marinated the chicken (for the whole day) in yoghurt, ginger, garlic and chilli paste, tomato puree, Kashmiri paste, lemon, salt, chilli powder turmeric, ground cumin and coriander powder. I then placed the chicken on skewers and cooked it in the oven to get nice and charred.

To make the sauce I fried a chopped onion in some butter, and once browned I then added a chopped tomato, ginger, garlic and chilli paste, tomato puree and the Kashimiri paste. I added different spices such as turmeric, chilli powder, cumin, coriander powder and let this cook into a thick paste. Next I added about 100ml of single cream to give the sauce a creamy taste. I let the sauce down with some boiling water and let it simmer. I preferred to do this than use lots of double cream so I would feel less guilty!

Once the chicken is charred I added it to the sauce alongside all its juices and its done! Add some fresh coriander and serve with naan bread or chapatis and basmati rice. Delicious!

If you are vegetarian you can always make this sauce and use hearty veg such as cauliflower and sweet potato. I like my curries a bit spicy but if you don’t then you don’t have to add any chilli, but go on…spice up your life! (Gosh that was cheesy)